For safety's sake, rewrite fireworks ban: Editorial

The first problem with fireworks in Florida is that the state ban on their sale is a total sham.

Fireworks that explode or fly through the air — such as Roman candles, bottle rockets and mortars — are supposed to be illegal here. But a 60-year-old exemption in state law allows their sale to people who work at farms or fish hatcheries, presumably to scare away pesky animals.

Florida is the only state with such an exemption, and as Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association recently told the Tampa Tribune, "With the expansion of consumer fireworks sales in Florida, there should not be a critter left alive there."

That's right. Even the head of the fireworks trade group finds our law laughable.

The vendors who sell these projectiles in the tents you see on so many street corners are supposed to ask customers to sign forms that say they are buying their bottle rockets for agricultural purposes. But it's doubtful many customers actually have an agricultural license. Rarely are people asked to show proof.

But serious trouble erupts every year around this time when vendors supposedly sell their fireworks — wink, wink — for agricultural purposes.

This year, a 15-year-old boy in Lauderhill blew up his right hand while lighting high-grade illegal fireworks. And in Auburndale, a woman died from injuries sustained after fireworks exploded inside her home.

It happens like clockwork every July 4th. Last year, fireworks blew up in a Lauderhill man's face, causing second- and third-degree burns. And a Pompano Beach man blew off large parts of his left hand while modifying fireworks in a bathroom.

Nationwide, 48 people died last year from handling fireworks, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. More than 11,000 were injured, an increase from 8,700 injuries in 2012.

For the sake of public safety, it is time for Florida to get into the 21st century and update its fireworks law. While a total ban may go too far, Florida should kill the agricultural exemption and start from scratch. Keep sparklers legal, but ban certain explosive and projectile fireworks under any circumstances.

For now, it's simplistic, but true, to say fireworks must be kept away from children.

And consider this advice from Capt. Jerry Gonzalez, a spokesman for Lauderhill Fire-Rescue, who told the Sun Sentinel, "We always warn our residents to leave the fireworks to the professionals. Go to the parks. That's why the cities provide these types of shows and displays — to keep people from doing it on their own."

Playing with fire is dangerous. Every year, someone who takes fireworks into his own hands loses a hand.